King Ghidorah: Monster Zero - The Movie
''King Ghidorah: Master of Monsters ''is the theatrical movie of the similarly-titled anime series. It is an adaptation of the said series, though there are several plot points that are present in the movie that are not in the anime. It holds several records in Japanese film history. Firstly, it is the longest anime film ever made, clocking in at 435 minutes (including the overtune, intermissions, and finale). Secondly, it is the highest-grossing Japanese film (and by default, the highest-grossing anime and Godzilla film) ever made. Plot During the Big Bang, year 13,700,000,000 BC, three mysterious orbs - one colored red, the other black, and the last yellow are sent to the edges of the now-expanding universe. Meanwhile, two giant, indistinguishable shapes are engaging in are in a chase. Flash-forward to 4.4 billion years ago, and the yellow sphere crashes on Mars, where it forms into a dragon called King Ghidorah. Upon awakening, King Ghidorah evolves bloodlust and attempts to destroy the Martian civilization, but fails at first. King Ghidorah strikes again the following week, and completely annhilates the entire planetary civilization. During the battle, he also destroys a terraformation device, and gives Mars it's distinctive red color. One month later, King Ghidorah encounters a Gargoan fleet, who capture the monster and dub him the name Gaar Ghigoro. He is used to destroy the Planet Venus' civilization, though their princess manages to transfer her consciousness to Earth's atmosphere, which is beginning to form as the Venusians desperately launch mini-terraforming devices at the neighboring planet. The Gargoans leave the solar system with King Ghidorah, while the terraformation devices begin to take effect. Several million years later, at the Gargoa homeworld, King Ghidorah is already an "ancestral weapon" of the Gargoan civilization, who treat him as a god. However, Xilliens arrive and disrupt their control over him, and then turn him against his former masters. The Gargoans panic and some manage to escape on the planet's military fleet. Meanwhile, the Xillens take him to Planet X, located in Jupiter's umbra, and dub him Zargam Zeggo (the Xillien word for 'Monster Zero'). Like the Gargoans before them, King Ghidorah is used by the Xillens as a weapon of war and is used as a tool to raid planets for their resources. Then, in the year 1964, the Xillens decide to send him on a 'test run' on Planet Earth, which already has a major civilization. His master send him there on a magnetic asteroid. He crash lands near Kurobe, where he awakens three days after his arrival. He almost kills everyone in a research team studying his meteor and wreaks havok in the entire countryside. The next morning, he is faced by four of Earth's giant monsters - Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, and Mothra, who engage him in battle. During this battle, he accidentally kills some communist agents trying to kill a princess of a Himalayan country, who has become the host of the Venusian princess. Finally, King Ghidorah retreats into space, though it is the Xilliens who call him back. Godzilla and his allies go their different paths. The next year, thanks to a deal made with Earth, the Xilliens (feigning being assaulted by King Ghidorah) transport Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, and Mothra to Planet X, where they do battle with King Ghidorah once more. King Ghidorah, after a while, feigns retreating. Much later, the four monsters are brainwashed and are sent back to Earth to destroy it. King Ghidorah and the entire Xillien military force follow. Their combined forces manage to destroy a massive area in southern Japan, but the humans break the Xillien mind control, and Godzilla and his allies fight King Ghidorah once more. Ghidorah retreats back into space, while the Earth monsters annihilate the Xillien fleet with help from the Earth Defense Forces. Travelling throughout the cosmos, King Ghidorah encounters a race of all-female aliens calling themselves Kilaakians. They too brainwash King Ghidorah and dub him Khi-Zeek. ''Again, he is used as a weapon of mass destruction and his own legend grows across the universe. Then, in the year 1968, he faces against Godzilla again, this time with ten additional monsters. Originally, these 11 monsters were pawns of the Kilaakians, but their mind control was effectively cut off by the humans. In an epic battle, King Ghidorah is brought to near-death and barely makes it out alive, while his mistresses are all killed. Then, in 1972, he meets the Nebula M Space Hunters who, as with the previous three alien races, brainwash him and dub him with their own alteration of his name, ''Zik-Gu. He is paired up with Gigan, an alien cyborg he forms a great friendship with. The two are used in another invasion plot and are sent to destroy Tokyo. They are met by Godzilla and Anguirus. After engaging in an epic-tag team battle, humans destroy the Nebulan's command center (a tower looking precisely like Godzilla) and effectively cut off the mind control. Now without orders, the two alien monsters are driven back into space by Godzilla and Anguirus. In 1973, he encounters the Gargoans once more, and he is shanghaied back into their service. He is paired up with Gigan, and a new monster, Megalon, who belongs to a race of humans known as Seatopians, who are allied with the Gargoans. They are unleashed on Earth and encounter Godzilla, and his two new allies - the shapeshifting android Jet Jaguar and the alien hero Zone Figher. King Ghidorah and Gigan are driven once more into space, while Megalon returns to Seatopia and destroys it. King Ghidorah and Gigan stick together for a while and encounter a nebula called M78, which is inhabited by beings called Ultras. A preliminary invasion by the duo ends in failure, and the two are sent back to space and are separated. King Ghidorah is captured and brainwashed by an alien race who call themselves Simians from the Third Planet From The Black Hole. He is dubbed Maak Khar'm. ''He is then paired up with a mechanical version of Godzilla, called MechaGodzilla, and a giant dinosaur who is dubbed Titanosaurus. The trio are used in yet another invasion of Earth. This time, they square off against Godzilla again, and he is backed up by two Earth versions of MechaGodzilla, one called MechaGodzilla 2 and the other Kiryu. An epic battle wages once more, but when it seems that the aliens are going to win, Titanosaurus' mind control is broken and he subsequently switches sides. Working together, Godzilla, MechaGodzilla 2, Kiryu, and Titanosaurus send the alien monsters into retreat, and destroy the Simian forces. King Ghidorah and MechaGodzilla go their separate ways, but King Ghidorah informs MechaGodzilla that he has "earned the respect of the King of Terror." MechaGodzilla departs and wishes King Ghidorah luck. Many months later, he encounters a being called Iyrs. After a while, the two engage in a long battle in an asteroid field, and the two fight to a stand still until Iyrs calls off the fight and swears revenge. A year later, King Ghidorah encounters two beings who call themselves DesGhidorah and Monster X. They claim to be related to King Ghidorah, who brushes this off and does battle with the two of them. After he proves to be a match for the two of them, even when Monster X transforms himself into a newer form, called Keizer Ghidorah, a new player steps in - a monster calling himself Grand King Ghidorah. He then tells King Ghidorah that all three dragons were all monsters from another dimension, and that he is their father. When the King of Terror refuses to believe this, but Grand King Ghidorah then telepathically transfers some of his memories to King Ghidorah, who is then convinced and refers to the older dragon as "father". Grand King Ghidorah then offers his help in destroying all who have dishonored him, starting with the Ultras. King Ghidorah accepts. Many months later, the four Ghidorahs launch an assault on M78 and destroy it. They mistakenly think that they have killed all of the Ultras, but ten of them escape in secret. A long time passes and the trio are ambushed by a vampire beast called Barugaron. Unfortunately, Grand King Ghidorah cannot help them as he has fallen to coma he called the "King's Coma". Beaten around badly by this new monster, the trio are almost killed, but Grand King Ghidorah awakens and helps in battle. Unfortunately, even he can't turn the tide of battle in their favor. Thankfully, a miracle happens in the form of Gigan, now upgraded. He kills Barugaron, saving the four Ghidorahs. Grand King Ghidorah offers his thanks and makes him an honorary Ghidorah. King Ghidorah thanks him once more before they part paths again. In 1979, the four Ghidorahs invade Earth and destroy the human race. They engage Godzilla in a final epic battle, and beat him close to death. Then, as they are about to launch their killing blow, a mysterious alien ship arrives and kills three Ghidorahs, except for King Ghidorah, who is injured critically and falls from a high cliff into the ocean. Nineteen years pass and the Earth has become relatively peaceful. Then, Gigan returns, having responded with a telepaththic SOS sent by a dying Grand King Ghidorah and resurrects King Ghidorah with a special stone he won at a gladitorial tournament involving the Gargoans. King Ghidorah, with Gigan's help, assembles an army of ten more monsters - Megaguirus, Biollante, MechaGodzilla, SpaceGodzilla, Destoroyah, Megalon, Hedorah, Hokmuto, and Femuto - to destroy the world and the remaining non-evil ''kaiju ''the planet. Though their organizational capacity seems rocky at first, but King Ghidorah eventually molds them in to an effective and efficient fighting force. He soon develops feelings for Megaguirus, who too, is the last of her kind. By 1999, the Ghidorah Empire has already amassed a string of victories ranging from sending Mothra and her allies to an anti-matter universe, where they are all killed by the harsh environment, to the lethal duo of Godzilla's son, Godzilla Jr., and Mothra;s brother Battra, to when two monsters, Shiigan, and a SpaceGodzilla clone fight them and attempt to sow discord among them, to the times they fought the giant apes Garia and Sanda, the assimilation creature Yog and his pawns, along with the matter-eating monster jellyfish alien Dogara and finally, a war with Iyrs and his like-minded band of equally-evil ''kaiju. In 1999, a monster called Trespasser attacks and informs King Ghidorah's faction and the King of Terror himself about a creature called Bagan. King Ghidorah soon falls under a King's Coma, much like his father. Before passing out, he informs his allies about Bagan, based on information Grand KIng Ghidorah told him. Bagan, it seems, is a monster-god of a race of interdimensional creatures called Precursors, and the creator of a race of super beasts. He also states that it really was Bagan that killed his family in 1979. Gigan takes command after King Ghidorah slips into his coma and when Bagan's "trump-card", Slattern appears, he orders that it be killed. They succeed, though SpaceGodzilla is almost killed. Angrered, Gigan forms a strike team and attacks Bagan's forces on Pluto. He and his strike squad also meet the surviving Ultras from M78, and defeats them. After they successfully destroy Bagan's Precursor Fleet, but it turns out to be a diversion and Bagan's real forces - including himself - attack Earth when Gigan and the strike team return. In a heated conflict, they manage to destroy all of Bagan's creations and pawns, though Bagan summons all of their souls and unite them into a new Slattern. SpaceGodzilla manages to kill it, but at the cost of his life. Bagan finally appears and fights Gigan and his remaining allies to the point that they're almost dead. However, King Ghidorah manages to reawaken and fights Bagan to a standstill. He finally manages to kill his nemesis, and heals his allies. Much later, he and his allies watch Earth's destruction - a side-effect of King Ghidorah's battle with Bagan. When the planet explodes, King Ghidorah smiles and says, "I am King Ghidorah." Cast For information on the cast, please look here . '' Production When the anime series was announced in 2013, production also started on the movie as well. Originally concieved as a stock-footage heavy film, the film was later given a redo. Unlike most anime films, or anime in general, both the English and Japanese voice acting was done before the animation was made. Tomoharu Katsumata decided that this film would literally be "the epic of epics". Indeed, he was proven right. Originally, the script called for a 242-minute long movie, but at his insistence, the story was expanded dramatically and had 193 minutes added to it's projected running time. The film was also high on visual and special effects as well. An example of this is that it is the first filmshotin TohoScope Super 70, a film format that combined TohoScope and 70mm film. Also, the film's sound was done using the extremely rare Sensurround sound system (or to be more specific, Sensurround Mod-III). For the animation, TMS Entertainment, of ''Akira ''fame, was brought in, with help from the equally distinguished Madhouse Entertainment. Film Stats '''Worldwide Box Office Gross: '$1,950,000,000 US Box Office Gross: '$1,000,000,000 '''Japanese Box Office Gross: '$750,000,000 'International (other than US/Japan) Gross: '$200,000,000 '''Rotten Tomatoes.com Rating: '''88% '''IMDB Rating: '''8.3/10.0 Reception The film broke Japanese box office records. it earned $1,000,000,000 in the US, $750,000,000 in Japan, and an additional $200,000,000 worldwide against a $75,000,000 budget. This made it the first Japanese film to break the 1-billion dollar mark. It holds an 88% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus read: "''D'espite it's needlessly long length, King Ghidorah: Master of Monsters, ''headed by an electrifying voice cast and acting, amazing visuals, jaw-dropping sound, an amazing score, and epic grandeur on a Kurosawan scale,'' is quite simply, an all-out epic that proves to be an entertaining film and a masterpiece at the same time." When FuNimation made a poll of the Top 100 Anime Movies, the film came out at number 12, one spot below ''Farewell To Space Battleship Yamato ''and one spot above ''The Disappearance of Harui Suzumiyra. '' Accolades (Wins) Academy Awards * Best Picture * Best Director - Tomoharu Katsumata * Best Actor - Koichi Yamadera/Alastair Duncan (Shared) * Best Actress - Minori Chihara/Maryke Hendrikse (Shared) * Best Screenplay - Katshuhiro Omoto, Izo Hashimoto, Shusuke Kaneko, Rintaro, Kazuki Omori, Akira Toriyama/Max Borenstein, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, Matt Frank, Tim Burton, J.J Abrams (Shared) * Best Supporting Actor - Eric Stuart/Junpei Morita (Shared) * Best Supporting Actress - Rachel Lillis/Shikuza Itou (Shared) * Best Animated Feature * Best Visual Effects * Best Score - Shoji Yamashiro, Shin'ichiro Ikebe * Best Cinematography * Best Foreign Language Film * Best Sound Cannes Film Festival * ''Palme D'Or * Prix d'interprétation féminine - ''Maryke Hendrikse/Minori Chihara (Shared) * ''Prix d'interprétation masculine - ''Alastair Duncan/Koichi Yamadera (Shared) * ''Prix de la mise en scène - Tomoharu Katsumata * Prix du scénario - Katshuhiro Omoto, Izo Hashimoto, Shusuke Kaneko, Rintaro, Kazuki Omori, Akira Toriyama/Max Borenstein, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, Matt Frank, Tim Burton, J.J Abrams (Shared) Venice Film Festival * Gold Lion * Silver Lion - Tomoharu Katsumata * Volpi Cup - Koichi Yamadera/Alastair Duncan, Minori Chihara/Maryke Hendrikse (Shared) * Marcello Mastroianni Award - Eric Stuart/Shikuza Itou (Shared) * Special Lion - Rachel Lillis/Shikuza Itou (Shared) Trivia *When the film made it's debut on November 3, 2014 (ironically on Godzilla's 60th birthday), it's premiere theater, Toho's Roppongi Hills Cinema, was decked out in a Godzilla-based motif to suit the movie. *Before the film first rolled at the theater, Akira Tarakada (the narrator of the movie and the series) walked in front of the audience, and gave the following speech: " 'Monsters are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. That is their tragedy.' Those words were spoken by my good friend, the late director Ishiro Honda. When Mr. Honda said those very words, it was a testament to what he wanted to see in monsters. Not your typical, run-of-the-mill, mindless monsters, but creatures that, much like us, have their own feelings, hopes, dreams, plans, desires and schemes. This film was made not only with the hope of entertaining you and many others the world over, but to also to show all present- and all who shall see - precisely what these things really are. Not a bunch of mindless beasts of burden, but beings that, in a sense of all things considered, are not too different from you and I. This film runs for four hundred-and-thirty-five minutes, with the addition of an overtune accompanied by six intermissions and a finale. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention, and please do enjoy the film." **When the film made it's US debut in September of 2015, Patrick Stewart (Tarakada's counterpart for the English dub) said a slightly edited speech: " 'Monsters are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. That is their tragedy.' Those words were spoken by the late, great, director Ishiro Honda in 1956 when filming the classic movie Rodan. When Mr. Honda said those very words, it was a testament to what he wanted to see in his brainchildren. Not your typical, run-of-the-mill, mindless aliens, cyborgs, and such, but creatures that, much like us, have their own feelings, hopes, dreams, plans, desires and schemes. This film was made not only with the hope of entertaining you and many others the world over, but to also to show all present - and all who shall see - precisely what these creatures really are. Not a bunch of mindless beasts of burden, but beings that, in a sense of all things considered, are not too different from you and me. This film runs for four hundred-and-thirty-five minutes, including an overtune, six intermissions, and a finale. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention, and please do enjoy the film." *'The producers made a risky gamble when they decided to show the film completely uncut, with not a single minute or less omitted or edited. However, upon seeing the unparalleled success of the film, Omori stated that taking the gamble was well worth it. *According to the crew, "[Katsumata-san] wanted to make a film as visually satisfying as ''Akira, but also with the air of an epic and the power of Ran and Kagemusha combined''." * The film's ''faux ''title called was "''The Eight-Hour Gamble." ''According to Kazuki Omori, it was Norio Wakamoto, (SpaceGodzilla's voice actor) who came up with it, as an apparent tongue-in-cheek reference to the unbelievably long time it took to watch the movie. *'King Ghidorah's last words in the film, which are "I am King Ghidorah." according to Shusuke Kaneko, are a homage to the last words spoken in the landmark 1988 anime film Akira, ''which are "''I am Tetsuo." Interestingly, most critics tend compare this movie to Akira. *Apart from being compared to Akira, ''this film has also been compared to the Akira Kurosawa films ''Ran ''and ''Kagemusha. '' *Plenty of homages are paid to King Ghidorah's previous movies in the film. * There is an extremely hot and bitter debate among fans over which is better between the movie and the series. * This was the first Godzilla movie to win Oscars. It also set the record for most Oscars won (13). * When asked about the entire cast and crew thought about the unprecedented success of the film and series, all Koichi Yamadera (King Ghidorah's voice actor in the Japanese dub) could say was: "''Wow." Category:Movies Category:Kaiju Films